Cool Down an Angry Message
Preserve the draft, then prevent the emotion from choosing the medium.
Extract the job
Ask what happened, who the recipient is, what the user wants to happen next, whether anything is genuinely time-sensitive, and whether safety or formal process is involved.
Name the message's real job: request, boundary, correction, logistics, documentation, repair, or emotional discharge.
If its main job is discharge, delay it. Keep the private draft; do not send it to make the recipient hold the emotion.
Remove escalation
Cut insults, threats, mind-reading, absolutes, old grievances, public-shaming language, and demands for an immediate response. Preserve concrete facts and a clear boundary.
Choose the smallest suitable medium:
- short text for time-sensitive logistics
- email for a factual record
- scheduled conversation for nuance
- formal channel for workplace, tenancy, or consumer process
- no contact when contact is unsafe or unwanted
Rewrite
Use:
When <observable event>, <specific impact>. I need/request <next action>. Can we <time or channel>?
Run a tomorrow test: would the user still stand behind every factual claim, request, and consequence after the emotional peak passes?
Return the decision—send, delay, talk, formalise, or do not contact—then the revised message and timing. Do not optimise threats, harassment, coercion, retaliation, or contact that violates a request or order.